ReadWrite - google chromehttp://readwrite.com/tag/google-chrome
enCopyright 2015 Wearable World Inc.http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 03 Mar 2015 14:36:06 -0800New Extension Plasters Pinterest Into New Browser Tabs<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>Pinterest is expanding its visual experience outside of the Pinterest website with a Google Chrome extension called <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pinterest-tab/clemcknnbdahjkkfgcbigljhgfajdcag">Pinterest Tab</a>, a feature <a href="http://blog.pinterest.com/">launched Friday</a>.</p><p>With Pinterest Tab installed, you’ll see images from Pinterest appear every time you open a new tab in Chrome, overlaid with your Google Calendar and weather information.&nbsp;</p><p>The project was conceived at a regular Pinterest Makeathon, where employees work on pet projects they don’t have time for otherwise. Pinterest Tab was developed as a prototype in fewer than 24 hours, and polished for public consumption in under three weeks.&nbsp;</p><p>Pinterest engineer Ludo Antonov conceptualized the project. Like most Chrome extensions, this one is based on JavaScript and some HTML5. The software is not on Pinterest’s <a href="https://github.com/pinterest">GitHub page</a>, but Antonov said the company may open-source it depending on public interest.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p><strong>See also: <a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/08/29/chrome-extension-build-your-own-caaaaarbs">Friday Fun: Build Your First Chrome Extension</a></strong></p></blockquote><p>"Basically we identified tabs as something you use on a regular basis, hundreds of times a day,” Antonov said. "We could bring a little more inspiration into the utility of Chrome."&nbsp;</p><div tml-image="ci01a8bfd7eaea860b" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIzMDQ5NjY0MjU4NDc1NTMy.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Pinterest Tab is a pleasant little extension that basically provides ever-changing wallpaper to your Chrome browser. The images are always high resolution and appear to come from the upper echelon of Pinterest because they’re selected from the offerings of partners like <a href="http://artsy.net/">Artsy</a>, <a href="http://500px.com/">500px</a>, and <a href="http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic Your Shot</a>.&nbsp;</p><h2>Pinterest As Wallpaper</h2><p>After installing the extension, I realized that Antonov isn’t kidding when he says we see Chrome’s blank tab space hundreds of times a day; now this spot is filled with photos I want to see from a category or categories of my choice (in this case, the "travel" category).&nbsp;</p><p>However, that’s not the only reason for Pinterest Tab’s existence. It doubles as a new way for Pinterest to promote the <a href="http://business.pinterest.com/en/pin-it-button">"Pin it" button</a>, which prompts people to "pin"—the Pinterest term for posting on the site—more things more often as they browse. It automatically showed up in my browser window next to the search bar when I installed.&nbsp;</p><p>Pinterest clearly has hopes that people will install the extension for the pictures, but then use the "Pin it" button more often as a side effect. Don’t, however, think of this as a forerunner of a larger "Pinterest everywhere" strategy; Antonov said it was just for fun. There aren’t even plans to bring it to other browsers.</p><p>"Right now we’re just focused on figuring out people’s reactions to the extension," he said. "Based on what they say, we’ll work on how to improve or expand the experience."</p><p><em>Screenshots by Lauren Orsini for ReadWrite</em></p>Now you can pin before you pin.http://readwrite.com/2014/09/05/pinterest-tab-chrome-pin
http://readwrite.com/2014/09/05/pinterest-tab-chrome-pinWebFri, 05 Sep 2014 09:14:27 -0700Lauren OrsiniFriday Fun: Build Your First Chrome Extension<!-- tml-version="2" --><p><strong></strong></p><p>Google Chrome is the most popular Web browser in the world. Part of its appeal comes from its ability to let you fully customize your browsing experience with a slew of <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions">extensions</a>. Extensions are small, lightweight programs that personalize your Chrome installation with new features. </p><p>You’ve probably already downloaded an extension or two. But did you know it’s almost as easy to build your own? Chrome extensions are written in a relatively beginner-friendly language—JavaScript—and require only two files to function. </p><p>Since they’re so easy to build, there are currently more than 53,000 extensions in the <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions">Chrome Web Store</a>, ranging from productivity tools to stupid entertainments. </p><h2>Today's Project</h2><p>Today we’re going to build a Chrome extension that isn’t particularly useful, though it's sort of funny. We’ll be transforming&nbsp;<a href="http://stevenf.com/">Steven Frank</a>’s <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cloud-to-butt-plus/apmlngnhgbnjpajelfkmabhkfapgnoai?hl=en">Cloud to Butt Plus</a> extension, which edits every Web page you visit by replacing the phrase “the cloud” with “my butt.” You can <a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/cloud-to-butt/">judge the results</a>&nbsp;for yourself. </p><p>With Frank’s permission, we’ll be creating a derivative work out of his Cloud to Butt <a href="https://github.com/panicsteve/cloud-to-butt">GitHub repository</a> in order to build a “find and replace” extension of our own. </p><p>Since I rarely build a coding project that isn’t trolling my coworkers in some way, my example envisions the Web the way my Paleo editor Owen Thomas probably sees it. The Paleo diet puts carbohydrates off limits, so I decided to make his dietary choices simple by making “bread,” “pasta,” and related taboo foodstuffs less appealing to him on the Web. </p><div tml-image="ci01af657b56bf860d" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIzMDQ5NjYzOTM2MTY5NDg0.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>My finished extension is <a href="https://github.com/laurenorsini/caaaaarbs">on GitHub</a> for anyone who wants to use it. Here’s how it works.</p><h2>Anatomy Of An Extension</h2><p>Extensions piggy-back off of existing Chrome functionality to add new features. This means anyone can build an extension using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, without having to learn to work with Chrome’s native code. As the <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/getstarted">Chrome Developer</a> site promises:</p><blockquote><p>If you've ever built a web page, you should feel right at home with extensions pretty quickly.</p></blockquote><p>That’s quite an assertion, and it certainly depends on the complexity of the extension you want to build. Still, all you need for a basic extension are these:</p><p>1. A <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/manifest">manifest.json</a> file. Here, .json stands for JavaScript Object Notation. This manifest file stores metadata about our extension and shows Chrome how to use it. Every manifest file includes the extension’s name and description for Chrome Web Store browsers. After that, it declares dependencies, permissions, and any browser actions the extension will perform.</p><p>2. A JavaScript or HTML file. Here’s where you write the program detailing what your extension does. In the <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/getstarted">example the Chrome Developer site gives</a>, it’s popup.html, a page that delivers cute cat photos to extension-users. For more complex extensions, it’s a JavaScript file containing a program that delivers the meat of the extension. </p><p>3. An icon. Actually, this is optional, but it's helpful and certainly looks cute when your extension is installed. For best results, save an icon as three square images at resolutions of 16px, 28px, and 128px. </p><div tml-image="ci01af657b56c5860d" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MzczMzI5OTMz.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><h3>Building Manifest.json</h3><p>At its very minimum, a manifest file needs only to include a name and a version. At 17 lines, ours does a little more. (Here's the <a href="https://github.com/laurenorsini/caaaaarbs/blob/master/manifest.json">full thing in one place</a>.)</p><p>This part includes all the metadata:</p><p><pre>{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "Caaaarbs",
"version": "1.0",
"description": "Paleo's best friend.",
"icons": {
"16": "images/carbs16.png",
"48": "images/carbs48.png",
"128": "images/carbs128.png"
},</pre></p><p>Manifest_version refers to the version of the file format we’re using. Chrome requires that you use version 2, so that’s what we’ve indicated.</p><p>Next comes the extension name, version, and description. These are really up to you. </p><p>After that, I listed out the extension’s icon sizes. First, I picked an image that I thought fit my extension—a royalty-free <a href="http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-ecMj7rBcn">vector graphic of a croissant</a>—and then sized it in Photoshop three times. Now, Chrome automatically puts the correct size of the icon where it is needed. </p><p>Here's the rest of the file:</p><p><pre> "content_scripts":
[
{
"matches": ["*://*/*"],
"js": ["myscript.js"],
"run_at": "document_end"
}
]
}</pre></p><p>These are the content scripts that make the extension tick. The first one here simply indicates that my extension will do its thing on any website. Under different circumstances, you could edit the asterisk wildcards to limit use of the extension to particular pages—you know, like <a href="http://readwrite.com">http://readwrite.com</a>.</p><p>The second line indicates that manifest.json will read in the extension's underlying program from a JavaScript file named myscript.js. That’s where the whole “find and replace” function lives.</p><p>Finally, the third line instructs my extension to run after the full page has loaded in the browser window. If it ran before I brought up a site, some of the words I want to find and replace might not have loaded yet! </p><h2>Building Myscript.js</h2><p>This file may be 40 lines long (<a href="https://github.com/laurenorsini/caaaaarbs/blob/master/myscript.js">see it here</a>), but it’s mainly home to two JavaScript functions. In programming, a function is a reusable bit of code that performs a specific task.</p><p>The first function, called <strong>walk</strong>,&nbsp;executes an action that JavaScript programmers refer to as “walking the DOM.” DOM stands for Document Object Model, which is a code-based representation of a Web page and every element—text, images, form fields, and so forth—on it. It sort of resembles an upside-down tree, with a single trunk at the top and a bunch of ordered code "branches" below.</p><p>The <strong>walk</strong>&nbsp;function explores the whole tree, starting at the trunk and moving down to the end of the first branch, then back up until it finds another branch to examine. Basically, it's crawling all the data on the page to locate the textual elements.</p><p>That's where the second function, <strong>handleText</strong>, comes in.&nbsp;When&nbsp;<strong>walk</strong>&nbsp;finds some text, <strong>handleText</strong>&nbsp;scans for the words we want to replace, and then replaces them wherever it finds them.</p><p>How does it know which words to replace? We specified that this way:</p><p><pre>v = v.replace(/\bbread\b/g, "caaaaarbs");</pre></p><p>This is one of the five lines that specifies the words I want to swap out. You can choose any number of words for substitution, though each one will need a line like the one above. (It's not the most graceful program ever written, but it is straightforward.)</p><p>Some technical details, for those who are interested: "v" is a variable that stores a temporary copy of “textNode.nodeValue=”—i.e., the text in a particular text element called "textNode." The function <strong>v.replace</strong>&nbsp;rewrites the text in that element by replacing the first string (everything inside the parentheses before the comma) with the second string (the word "caaaaarbs"). The first string in the example above is a dense bit of code that identifies all text matching "bread" and then instructs the function to replace every word that is a match to this one. </p><p>At the end of the function, the temporary value stored in "v" gets copied back to "textNode.nodeValue" and then written into the code representation of the Web page—which then displays your change in the browser.</p><h2>Uploading to Chrome</h2><p>Collect your manifest.json, myscript.jpg, and your icons in a new folder by themselves. Now, navigate to chrome://extensions/ in your browser window.</p><p>Now, click the checkbox to put Extensions in “Developer Mode.” This will give you a few more options regarding what you can do with your extensions.</p><div tml-image="ci01a87e1f2bed860f" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MzczMTk4ODYx.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Click “Load unpacked extension…” and navigate to your Chrome extension folder. If all is well, it should upload without a hitch. If it returns an error, there's most likely a syntax error in your code, so check it and try again.</p><div tml-image="ci01a87e1f2bef860f" tml-image-caption=""><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIxNDI3Mjk1MzczMjY0Mzk3.png" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div><p>Success! The image above shows my extension among others I’ve installed.</p><p> Now check out <a href="https://github.com/laurenorsini/caaaaarbs">all the code to my extension</a> on GitHub, clone your own copy, and make your own find-and-replace extension. I used this to prank my editor, but the possibilities are endless! You could prank your family or friends, too. Or you could even—<em>gasp</em>—use the find-and-replace action to create something useful!&nbsp;</p><p>In any case, I'd love to see what you build. Tell us all about it in comments.</p><p><em>Engineer <a href="https://twitter.com/ajacksified">Jack Lawson</a> contributed to this article.&nbsp;</em></p><p><em>Top photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdrx/8486928160/in/photolist-dVXJ4A-6D83Nt-aLt4NB-818Syd-cDBdud-73EXJk-7mzvUU-6D83Nc-5imHWR-8HCsgb-5ixBqT-5rVYbJ-5ixCMD-7kqyHu-9coTP6-99kykr-5kviDN-bq4goD-5iu6kj-5imG9x-5iqYKm-9hAsxa-8pfwZ8-8pfxv6-7vo4zv-5szMUM-5iJEBP-5mC748-7o3jcY-7vo4sR-5iBn4Y-6e7ztm-8ZQ2rk-7nYpSn-9TMynh-5spGaY-7tKVqY-fA7tMf-7swZXK-e8CCGW-azcCjW-azcCmq-8ao1HR-7vrTeh-7soqiH-aBMbHc-aBMbDz-aBMbFp-5zPNys-5imk7D">Darren Harve</a>; all screenshots by Lauren Orsini</em></p>An easy way to customize your browser.http://readwrite.com/2014/08/29/chrome-extension-build-your-own-caaaaarbs
http://readwrite.com/2014/08/29/chrome-extension-build-your-own-caaaaarbsHackFri, 29 Aug 2014 07:01:00 -0700Lauren OrsiniMiddle Earth Comes To Life On Google Chrome <!-- tml-version="2" --><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b280a060028266" tml-render-position="right" tml-render-size="medium"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAxNTY1MzgwODgxNjg5.jpg" /></figure></div><p><em>Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partners at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Hobbit-Google-Chrome-Experiment-32967246">PopSugar Tech</a>.</em></p><p>From the elvish oasis of Rivendell to the abandoned kingdom of Erebor, director Peter Jackson spared no expense in re-creating J.R.R. Tolkien's fantastical world of lush greenery, terrifying forest lands, and creatures big and small. In <em>The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</em>, the trifecta of stunning backdrops, flawless costumes, and sweeping music comes together seamlessly on the big screen (and in eye-popping 3D).</p><p>Now imagine the difficulty in developing that same universe for small screens. <a href="http://middle-earth.thehobbit.com/map">A Journey to Middle-earth</a> is a Google Chrome experiment that took the challenge head-on. The interactive Web feature for computers, phones, and tablets allows Hobbit fans to see the dwarves' journey in incredible detail.</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b281a1b0018266"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAyNjY5NzI0MzUzMTI2.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Explore the Trollshaw Forest, Rivendell, Dol Guldur, Thranduil's Hall, Lake Town and Erebor in full-screen. You'll definitely want to pop on some over-ear headphones and experience the Chrome Experiment's immersive soundtrack. The narration provided in each area will provide background from Tolkien's novel and the first Peter Jackson-directed Hobbit film. Once you finish swiping through each area, you'll get a chance to play an interactive game. Try your hand at archery in Lake Town or avoid the wrath of Smaug by delivering only the cleverest response.</p><p>Creating the web-based multimedia was no small feat. Engineers used <a href="http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/casestudies/hobbit/">WebGL and Web Audio</a> to produce the interactive's rich detail and optimize javascript performance. Adapting the experience for <a href="http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/casestudies/hobbit-front-end/">all screens</a> was another challenge entirely. The team provided a <a href="http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/casestudies/hobbit-front-end/">case study</a> of how they approached the front-end development for the site.</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b281a240016d19"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAyNjcxODcxODMxMzIx.jpg" /></figure></div><p>As fans of both Tolkien and <em>Sherlock</em>, we are very, very excited to see <em>The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</em> again and again. The film, of course, stars our two favorites: Martin Freeman as Bilbo and <a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Benedict-Cumberbatch-Hobbit-Twitter-Chat-32805946">Benedict Cumberbatch</a> as the lethal Smaug. The banter between the two of them in the film is priceless.</p><p>After watching the film, dive into the Hobbit Chrome Experience at <a href="http://middle-earth.thehobbit.com/">middle-earth.thehobbit.com</a>, then let us know which section of the dwarves' adventure you'd like to participate in most.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Image courtesy of Flickr user&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazeronly/11349007674/sizes/z/in/photolist-ihSCA7-dqPfet-gyTMLa-dL1R64-9xuhV6-9Tycq8-dRemJK-cA8Czb-7WCq1p-7WCqoP-7WFDnw-9vrPeF-84jvRy-9vuQGA-9vuQFJ-arg5HM-93Zyav-dL4HbS-7Dk71R-8cKTd3/">torbakhopper</a>&nbsp;via CC</em></p><p><strong>More stories from PopSugar Tech:</strong><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Coding-Classes-Girls-29860374">7 All-Female Coding Camps That Are Changing the Ratio</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Pinterest-Private-Board-25821012">Shh! 3 Creative Uses For Pinterest's "Secret Boards"</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Top-Science-Tweets-2013-32961847">Best of 2013: The Top 5 Science Tweets of the Year</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Best-YouTube-Videos-2013-32944248">YouTube Breaks Down the Top Geek Videos of the Year</a><br tml-linebreak="true" /><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Doctor-Who-Christmas-Special-2013-Teaser-Trailer-32658923">Regeneration Hour: Watch the "Time of the Doctor" Trailer</a></p>Follow the dwarves' adventure in incredible detail in "A Journey To Middle-earth."http://readwrite.com/2013/12/16/middle-earth-comes-to-life-on-google-chrome
http://readwrite.com/2013/12/16/middle-earth-comes-to-life-on-google-chromePlayMon, 16 Dec 2013 12:39:00 -0800Nicole NguyenMicrosoft's Internet Explorer Is Greenest Browser, Says ... Microsoft<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2829730018266" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAzNzI0MTM4ODE4ODQx.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Some of the funniest bits in tech media usually start with the introduction: "from a Microsoft-commissioned study," and a new whitepaper from the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems doesn't disappoint. So, here it comes: Results from a Microsoft-commissioned study reveal Internet Explorer is the least-energy-using browser on the market.</p><p>Yes, a big shocker there, considering the source. But the Fraunhofer study (<a href="http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&amp;key=2b0adaafa9ad8a29fede7758fada1730&amp;loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcworld.com%2Farticle%2F2040872%2Fmicrosoft-claims-ie-consumes-less-power-than-other-browsers.html&amp;v=1&amp;libId=771a3f47-0088-4035-82a8-af766a27ccec&amp;out=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdownload%2F7%2F2%2F0%2F7204397B-DF32-4C97-A86C-C06F55000992%2FFhCSE%2520-%2520The%2520Impact%2520of%2520Internet%2520Browsers%2520on%2520Computer%2520Energy%2520Consumption.pdf&amp;title=Microsoft%20claims%20IE%20consumes%20less%20power%20than%20other%20browsers%20%7C%20PCWorld&amp;txt=study&amp;jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13709148895347">PDF</a>) asserts with a straight face that IE out-greens the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers.</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b28297a0018266" tml-render-position="right" tml-render-size="medium"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIyMzAzNzI2NTU1MDA1NTQy.png" /></figure></div><p>It's not by much, but when notebook and desktop power consumption was compared between an at-rest baseline and use while visiting the "top 10 U.S. websites," Internet Explorer appeared to use less power - up to a full 1 Watt less on notebooks than Google Chrome and .9 W less then Chrome on desktop PCs.</p><p>Over time, this might add up, but not by much. Fraunhofer's calculations indicate that on notebooks using Internet Explorer will save the U.S. 300 gigawatt hours a year over using Chrome and 200 gigawatt hours over browsing with Firefox. Put in perspective, that's about as much energy as Greenland and Belize consume annually, respectively.</p><p>On the desktop, the difference is even less: Chrome pulls in an estimated 200 gigawatt hours more than IE, and Firefox consumes 100 gigawatt hours more. So that's a Belize and Benin's worth of power, respectively.</p><p>Still, there are caveats that are impossible to ignore: the machines used by the Fraunhofer Center were provided by Microsoft, everything was installed on Windows 8 and it is not especially clear what the usage patterns were during the testing periods for each browser.</p><p>It is quite possible this test wasn't rigged, as some might be tempted to suggest. Microsoft and all the other tech companies commission studies like this all the time. And for every study we see that demonstrate a positive result for the commissioner of the study, there are a lot more studies that never see the light of day because they don't show such positive results.</p><p>Any savings in power is important, but consumers can individually save far more energy with better usage practices and an operating system configuration that aggressively works to consume less energy.</p><p></p><p><em>Lead image courtesy of <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>.</em></p>Microsoft's latest pot-shot at competing browsers: you're energy hogs!http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/microsoft-study-shows-internet-explorer-the-greenest-browser
http://readwrite.com/2013/06/11/microsoft-study-shows-internet-explorer-the-greenest-browserCloudTue, 11 Jun 2013 06:32:00 -0700Brian ProffittNow Google Wants To Kill The Mobile Web (Good Riddance)<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2827280018266" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAzNTY2Mjk4NzcwNzEz.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Mobile versions of websites are so 2009.</p><p>You know those clunky, stripped-down versions of sites with addresses that tack an "m." onto the beginning, and serve up a dumbed-down, limited version of their content? If Google has its way, those sites are headed for the dustbin of history.</p><p>At I/O, Google's developer conference held this week in San Francisco, executives Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson showed off examples of websites that traveled smoothly from desktops to tablets to smartphones. A website for the upcoming second installment of the&nbsp;<em>Hobbit</em> movie franchise let you soar above Middle Earth on many devices. And a racing game had cars leaping from smartphone to tablet to laptop.</p><p>The vehicle of this, of course, is Google's Chrome Web browser, which is now available across all those platforms (including, as of last year's edition of the I/O conference, Apple's iPhone and iPad).</p><p>The point of the demonstrations: You should be able to build your website once and have it adapt to different computing environments, a notion called "responsive design." Rather than force the creator of a website to design for specific screen sizes and interfaces - like keyboards versus touch screens, say - or force users to go through contortions to use websites optimized for the limitations of the wrong device, websites should just sense what computing device is being used and reconfigure themselves accordingly.</p><p>Just a few years ago, that sounded like a pipe dream - hence, the proliferation of mobile-optimized websites standing alongside full desktop versions.</p><p>At ReadWrite, we haven't just been <a href="http://readwrite.com/2013/04/16/10-developer-tips-to-build-a-responsive-website-infographic">writing about responsive design</a>. Since last October, when we launched a major redesign of our site, <a href="http://readwrite.com/2012/10/22/the-new-readwrite-looking-good-on-every-screen-video">we've been living it</a>. So we're naturally biased in favor of this concept.</p><p>It will take time and effort to rearchitect websites for this reality. And there will always be those holdouts- particularly within large, slow-moving businesses - who insist on designing for older versions of Web browsers or mobile devices. Legacy technologies which haven't made the cross-platform leap, like Adobe's fading Flash, need to be winnowed out. But those problem areas will increasingly be the exception, not rule.</p><p>Let's just have one Web. That seems easier.</p><p><em>Photo by Nick Statt for ReadWrite</em></p>Long live the Web. We only need one of it.http://readwrite.com/2013/05/15/now-google-wants-to-kill-the-mobile-web
http://readwrite.com/2013/05/15/now-google-wants-to-kill-the-mobile-webMobileWed, 15 May 2013 11:01:08 -0700Owen Thomas